


Are There Still Beautiful Things

by Saveourskinship



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Cottagecore, EWE, Eventual Smut, F/M, Hermione Is Wiccan, Hermione and Draco Grew Up Together, Sex Swing, Smut, Tarot, inspired by a taylor swift song - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:14:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27814369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saveourskinship/pseuds/Saveourskinship
Summary: Hermione Granger visits her Wiccan great aunt every year as a child. She befriends a boy who claims to be a wizard. The summers pass and they grow up closer and then apart.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 18
Kudos: 142





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This is for fun not funds, all copyrights belong to Taylor Swift and J. K. Rowling.
> 
> I am a trans ally and strongly disagree with the comment recently made by Ms. Rowling.
> 
> This work was loosely inspired by 'seven' from Taylor Swift.

I was seven years old when I first loved someone other than my family. It was summer and we had taken a month-long trip to visit my Great Aunt Marion like we did every summer. She lived in a sprawling ivy-covered house that was three times as big as she reasonably needed. The garden was wild, untamed and she liked it that way. She lived in Pennsylvania and it was the only place I had been to in America. I called her Gaga and she called me Mimi and she was the only one who was allowed to.

She was the last remaining member of our extended family and I thought she was just amazing. She exclusively wore loose floor-length dresses of cotton, silk and lace, mostly black or white and she smelled like amber and lilacs. She claimed to be a witch so naturally I did too, grasping the pentacle in my small hands that always lay upon her chest. She would spend hours entertaining me with her witchcraft. We would make herb bundles and recite spells with candles and incense. She would regale me with stories of the spirits and ghosts that lived in her house. Most of all I loved her antique tarot card deck. Her curly gray hair wild as she would explain each colourful card, their meanings, their secrets. She taught me how to do readings. She was my favourite person.

I met the boy I loved at the end of my first week there. I ran up the hill, long yellow grass feeling dry against my legs, crunching under my bare feet. The creek with its deep blue eddies glinting in the afternoon sunshine below. Gaga had told me about it, the swing on the tree. A grand oak dappled the top of the hill in shade and light and as I crested the hill he sat on the swing, illuminated in a shaft of sun as the breeze blew us towards one another.

“Hello!” I called out. I hadn’t seen anyone my age around as Gaga lived so far out of town. I thought at first he was a girl like me. He wore a dress and his pale blonde hair was long and plaited in two braids reaching past his shoulders. He was sitting on the swing, head bowed but he looked up when I approached, leaning away from me.

“Are you a Muggle?” he asked, voice wavering. “I’m not allowed to talk to Muggles.”

“I’m a witch!” I had exclaimed proudly, hands on my hips. I hadn’t known what a Muggle was then. All I knew was that I wanted to be a witch, just like my Gaga.

He had brightened immediately. “Really?!”

I nodded. “My Gaga has been teaching me magic!”

His eyes shone in wonder. “Wow, my parents said I have to wait for Hogwarts. But they let me fly.”

“You can fly?” I was incredulous. “I wonder if Gaga will teach me that.”

“I just got a new broom, I can show you sometime, I live over there,” he pointed to a huge house on the other side of the creek.

“Cool!” we stood just grinning at each other. “Have you been on the swing long?” I asked.

He frowned, wiggling the thick rope. “Yes, but it’s not working. I think the magic’s run out.”

“It can’t have,” I told him. “Maybe we just need to start it back up.”

I moved to the swing and he shuffled across to one side. It was wide enough for both of us to sit on it. I passed an arm around his back before grabbing onto both ropes of the swing. Tentatively, he copied me.

I stood to kick off from the ground, jumping back onto the seat, making it jolt beneath us. I started making the movements that got the swing going.

He watched what I did and started to do the same. He was out of time at first but slowly got the hang of it. We got higher and higher and shrieked into the summer sky, our laughter bubbling through the leaves.

“This isn’t really magic though,” he told me.

“How do you do magic?” I asked, as the forward motion pulled tears from my eyes.

“With a wand.”

“How do you use a wand?”

“You just hold it and the magic comes,” he answered. He demonstrated with one hand, squealing when he almost lost his balance, grabbing onto my T-shirt for balance, quickly replacing his hand on the rope.

“Maybe this magic needs hands and arms and legs,” I explain, making big sweeping moves to show what I mean.

He just nodded, accepting it. “Do you think we could jump into the creek?” he said, eyes wide as the expanse of blue water passed beneath us.

Fear gripped me and I scuppered my feet on the ground on our descent, slowing us down.

“What’s wrong?’ he asked me.

“My Gaga told me that one day I would be trapped underwater and a shark would rescue me,” I told him.

“But there aren’t any sharks here,” he told me, looking around. I just shuddered.

In the distance we heard a loud bellowing voice calling. “Dracoooo! Come back right now!” The voice sounded angry.

“That’s my dad,” he told me as the swing stopped. “I have to go.”

“Is that your name? Draco?” I asked as he got off and started walking away.

“Yeah, what’s yours?” he said, turning. His eyes squinting against the sun. I could still hear his father yelling for him, he was getting closer.

“Hermione,” I told him.

“OK, Miny, see you tomorrow,” he waved, running down the hill before I could correct him.

The summer passed in a blur, reading my Gaga’s spell books, delighted when sparks occasionally danced off my fingers, never when anyone was around though. I chased shades through the house with sage smoke wafting behind me. Gaga taught me more about the tarot cards, making wild predictions about my future I wasn’t sure could possibly be true.

And everyday I saw him. We played games, and swung together. He would swim in the creek, but I still couldn’t bring myself to. We held hands and slid on grain sacks down the grassy side of the hill, screaming into the sun.

One day, we were throwing sticks in the water from the bridge that spanned it, the one that led to Draco’s house. It was windy that day, the rustle of the grass loud and our hair was free, whipping around us like it was dancing.

We hadn’t heard him until he was too close.

“Draco.” His voice was hard and he was so tall and imposing, his hair long like his son’s.

Draco backed up into me and I steadied him, taking his hand. Draco’s dad didn’t seem like that, his eyes narrowing and nostrils flaring.

“What are you doing with this Muggle, Draco?” the voice thundered.

Draco just pointed at me with the hand I wasn’t holding. “She’s a witch,” he said, a small emptiness in his voice.

“Yeah, I’m a - a witch,” I told the man, the clouds chasing across the sky behind making him seem like a titan.

“You’re English,” he said and I nodded. “What’s your family name?”

“Granger?” I squeaked out.

He grabbed Draco’s hand out of mine.

“Dad!” Draco cried out indignantly.

“I don’t know her family which means they are most likely half-blood or worse,” Draco’s dad looked at me with a sneer. “They are not worthy of being seen with.” He started half-dragging Draco away who was trying to tug out of his iron-grip and protesting as they walked away.

It was our last night staying with Gaga and I hadn’t been able to tell him goodbye.

That night I quietly asked Gaga if we could do a tarot reading for my friend.

Gaga smiled and we did the ritual blessing of the cards, knocking them to expel any stuck energy. She shuffled and let me cut them before she spread them out.

“You remember what to do, Mimi?”

I nod enthusiastically. “I’ll wait until I feel the tingle.”

“Very good, Mimi dear.” Her smile was indulgent as I hung on her every word.

I hovered my left hand over the cards, waiting for the small tingle that tells me to pick one up. I closed my eyes. Trying to attune to the cards the way Gaga had taught me. I felt it and picked it up, placing the card where Gaga indicated, then three more.

“What about the last one, Mimi?” Gaga asked, her eyes twinkling.

I shook my head, “That’s it,” I say, my shoulders slumping.

“Are you sure, lovely one?”

I passed my hand again over the cards, concentrating hard. There was something barely there, I followed it, with my eyes closed again. I brought my hand near the card, but something wasn’t right. “Gaga, it’s this one again, but something’s not right.”

“What do you mean, Mimi?”

I screwed up my face trying to figure it out. “It’s like the card is unbalanced somehow.” I heard Gaga make an adjustment to the card.

“How about now, dear?”

The tingle was harmonised the way the others had. “Yes, it seems right now.” I opened my eyes again. “What does that mean, Gaga?”

“It means your friend embodies both the upright and reversed positions,” Gaga said, a slow curiousness in her voice.

She flipped them over and I remembered some of them but not others.

“What are they, Gaga?”

“Dearest, this one, the first you picked is the Wheel of Fortune. Next, you picked The Fool.” Her brow furrowed in worry. “Then came the upright Ten of Swords and Six of Cups before you said that you wanted the reverse Ten of Swords.”

I looked at the cards, their paintings seeming to dance in the candlelight. “Will he be OK, Gaga?”

She sat still for a long while, I had to tug on her lace sleeve to get her to look at me again.

“I’m just not sure I should tell you, lovely one,” her voice was sad and she was looking at me like I might break into a million pieces.

My eyes filled with tears. “Gaga, you _have_ to!”

Slowly she touched the Wheel of Fortune. “I think, beloved Mimi, this friend is linked to you and will be for a long time.” I sat staring, a bright smile on my face, excited he would be my friend forever. “But darling girl, it may not always be happy.”

She held my face in her paper-soft hands, “I’m not sure to tell you to run or to hold on tight.”

I looked at her in confusion. “What does the rest say?” I asked, softly.

“The Fool, right now he is free, innocent, has started this link with you.” Her hand moved to the next card, it was scary, a dead person impaled with swords. “Upright Ten of Swords, hurt, loss on a grand scale.” She moved on before I could speak, not wanting me to say anything. “Six of Cups, he will be drawn back, memories pulling him. And finally, reverse Ten of Swords… he wants to do better, he just might need some motivation.”

“Will he be happy?”

“That depends on how he treats you, his link in destiny my darling.”

* * *

The next summer I found him on my first day, sitting on the swing. His hair was short now and I missed the wild way the white-blonde would tease the winds.

“Miny?” his voice was even smaller than I remembered.

“Hi, Draco, sorry I didn’t get to say goodbye last year,”

“It’s OK,” he wouldn’t even look at me now and I remembered his father’s stern face.

He slid over on the swing though. It was a tighter fit now.

“You cut your hair,” I said.

“You didn’t,” he replied. He was quieter than I remembered.

I grabbed onto the ropes and began swinging, he instinctively followed. I chattered enough for the both of us, my questions to him getting shy answers. Too soon we heard a woman calling for him. He seemed happier going to her.

“Tomorrow?” he asked through lowered lashes.

“Of course,” I smiled, waving as he walked away, returning to my family.

Gaga presented me with my own tarot deck and we spent all night going over placements and meanings of the cards. My eyes prickled with how happy I was to be back.

Just like the previous summer, I saw him every day but now I was boisterous and loud where he was reserved. He didn’t seem to mind, he always had a small smile for me. He showed me some otters he’d found living further down the creek, we watched them play most times we saw each other. Their happy chittering always brought a shy smile to his face.

“They remind me of us,” he had said quietly one day, crouched on the embankment. “That’s what summer feels like.” I had nodded, leaning against him.

The days blended into one another but I never saw his dad this time. His mother was more lenient, she let him stay out later. We caught fireflies in the dark, cupping them gently in our hands before letting them go, on rainy days we made a fort under Gaga’s dining room table casting shadows with flashlights.

Then it was the final day.

“I can read your fortune now, you know,” I told him. We were sitting in the oak tree, trying to find a decent amount of shade on the hot day. I still wouldn’t go in the creek and he wouldn’t anymore either.

“Could you?” His eyes bright with wonder.

I nodded, bringing out the tarot deck. “I’m not very good at seeing what lies ahead in a group of cards, but Gaga said I can do one pretty well.”

He watched as I completed the ritual, knocking the cards and shuffling. I allowed him to cut them and then fanned the cards in my hands face down for him to choose.

“What do I do?” his voice, usually hushed in the sun seemed bolder in the safety of the foliage.

“Close your eyes and think of a question you want to ask. Stretch out your hand, wait until one of the cards kind of tickles and pick that one.”

He did as I told him to but after a number of seconds, withdrew.

“I can’t feel anything,” he said.

“Here, I’ll help,” I told him. I placed my hand above his own and passed them over the cards again. “There!” I exclaimed and he nodded, excited. It had been a different feeling to when I picked for myself. More of a throb than a tingle.

We turned the card over, Ten of Cups. I giggled.

“What is it?” he asked, nervous at my mirth.

“You just picked love. But it also means happiness and being whole,” I said patting my hand over my heart.

He coloured and looked away.

“Do you think it’s real?” he asked quietly.

“Yes!” I told him.

“Why?”

“Because if it is real, we’ll know each other for a long time.”

“Is that what you asked for?” he was curious.

“I asked about you. I wanted to know if you would be happy,” I pick up the Ten of Cups. “Looks like you want that, too.”

Just then a gust whipped through the trees and while I was able to hold on to the rest of my cards, but the Ten of Cups blew away and I gave a strangled cry stretching for it. Then it froze in midair.

Draco had also thrown an arm out and now he was guiding the card back to me.

“Wow,” I said, reverently, admiration in my eyes. “You’re amazing!” He just blushed again.

I hugged him goodbye this time, but he was shy and only grazed my elbows with his hands.

* * *

The summer when I was nine I didn’t see him until my third week there. I spent a lot of time with Gaga, and while I loved every minute, I couldn’t help but wonder where he was. When I finally did, I saw he had grown a lot and was taller than me now.

“Hello, Miny,” he said when I found him on the hill with the swing, his mouth quirked in a half-smile. We were too big to sit together now so we stood at either end, balancing precariously with our arms gripping the rope behind us.

“Where have you been?” I asked, hurt in my eyes.

“Father has been setting me so many lessons,” he said, rolling his eyes. He was much more confident now.

“But not today?” I asked.

“Today I snuck out,” he told me. “I probably won’t have long.”

“What do you want to do then?” I said.

“Tell me how you’ve been,” he replied.

This year we talked together rather than Draco just listening to me. There were many things about his life I didn’t understand and he mine. I started getting the idea that perhaps wizards and witches were really two quite different things.

He snuck out the next day and the next. I taught him how to make daisy chains and he attempted to get me to swim, and when I refused I would get punished with splashes of cold water.

We lay in the grass, I faced Gaga’s house, he towards the creek, our heads lying beside the other. He told me about how his dad would stride around the house perpetually angry. I told him to use sage to get rid of the house’s bad spirits. I ask if he is OK, he says he has a hiding place to avoid him. I watch as his hair tousles in the wind, curling around a piece of grass.

Before he went home, he had looked like going back was the last thing he wanted to do. Looking in his eyes, he seemed trapped.

I led him to the other side of the hill, the one that overlooked the wild and swaying yellow field. Cupping my hands around my mouth I released a loud yell. It was long and primal. He looked at me, surprised, a genuine smile gracing his face. He looked out and did the same. We took turns and again didn’t notice his arrival.

“Draco, what are you doing?” that wintry voice cutting through the summer air.

“Skiving off,” came Draco’s reply.

His dad was so angry, shaking with fists clenched.

“She is no witch, she’s a Muggle, I had the Ministry check. There are no wizarding families for miles here.” The man had shot me a superior look.

Draco’s demeanour changed entirely. He became stiff and instantly moved away from me.

“I am a witch,” I said softly, fondling the pentacle bracelet Gaga had given me on my birthday.

Draco’s dad sneered at me. “A Muggle witch, not a real one.”

Draco just stared between us.

“You know that a Malfoy has no business associating with this... filth, Draco,” his father continued with a sneer, ignoring me now.

Draco looked at me, his face was unfeeling but his eyes - there was something in them.

I strode in between the two, facing Draco’s dad. “Maybe I’m not a witch, not like you. Maybe I’m a pirate instead and I’ll come steal him away!”

The man just looked at me like I was garbage on his expensive shoes.

“Come on, Draco,” he said, turning and walking away.

Draco followed him and never looked back.

Gaga comforted me while I cried, stroking my hair and telling me she was so sorry. She was crying as well and I had no idea why.

* * *

The following year Gaga died ten days before we were meant to fly out and see her. We attended the funeral and my parents had gone back to the house to pack her things away. They decided to keep most of it in the attic, safely stored until there was a better time.

I had climbed the hill in my black dress, the shoes I wore tight and uncomfortable. I had never worn shoes on this hill before.

I felt him rather than saw him. He sat beside me as I stared resolutely over the field.

“She’s dead,” I said, my voice hollow. My hands gripped the tarot deck she had given me years ago.

He said nothing, every moment seeming like he might run.

“Nothing matters,” I say into my elbow and I heard him shift to look at me. “You won’t be happy, we have no special magical link and this is probably the last time I’ll ever see you. And I’m still scared of that creek for no good reason!”

I open the pack of tarot cards, spreading them on my open hands. “It was all lies, she would have been able to tell what would happen to her otherwise,” I say bitterly, watching as the wind catches them, spilling them down the field. Draco doesn’t reach to grab them this time.

I hear him stand again. “You may be a filthy Muggle,” he told me. “But I thought you were pretty magical.”

I could hear him start to walk back to his side of the creek, I stood, rage and grief overcoming me. I let out a piercing cry, a pulsing cone reverberating through the air and it started to rain hard, drenching us in just a few moments. I half-turned and saw Draco standing shocked at what I’d done.

I stomped down the hill angrily wiping tears from my face.

* * *

The next summer was full of getting ready for Hogwarts. I had been so excited when my letter came. My heart had leaped that I would be a witch like Gaga. But when I read all the books, it was obvious that I was the kind of witch that was very different from my Gaga. This was _real_ magic and my curdled anger about her predictions warred with my love for her.

I had seen him on the train where he was quite horrible and I took his lead that we weren't to know each other. Then I heard him before we entered the Great Hall for the Sorting. He was talking loudly about how my kind shouldn’t be allowed in. People who had non-wizards for parents. He caught my eye and narrowed his own, letting me know that whatever friendship we used to have was well and truly over.

And that’s how it was for years.


	2. Chapter 2

I’m 23 now, my parents are gone and Ron hasn’t been my husband for 6 months now. It happened on our second wedding anniversary. We’d had a party where our friends and family had come. It was a great night, I had talked and laughed with so many people and left around midnight. Ron had come home an hour afterwards, I had jolted at his arrival having curled up with tea and a book before bed.

He looked at me, kindness in his eyes and a sad smile on his face.

“Mione, what are we doing?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” I said.

He laughed a little, taking my hand and crouching by my chair. “You forgot about me and came home on our anniversary.”

My eyes widened, I placed my tea on the sidetable. “Oh Merlin, I’m so sorry Ron!”

He just smiled again and shook his head. “Don’t be, I didn’t even think to look for you. People were still around at the party when I left so I thought you would be, too. We didn’t even talk to each other the whole night.”

I thought back, he was right. He was giving me that look like he knew I’d have the answers. I searched back through the last year, we’d been fading for a long while now. My eyes blurred with tears.

“It’s over, isn’t it,” he had stated it, it wasn’t a question.

“How did we let this happen, Ron?” I gasped, I was upset, but at the same time relieved. I think he felt the same.

We were quiet for a moment searching for that tangible thing that had slipped us into just being friends, not lovers.

Finally I spoke, “I think we got married at the height of our love, we never gave each other the time to know whether it would last as we grew up, settled into our adult lives.”

Ron nodded. Harry and Ginny still weren’t married, maybe they had seen what happened to us and didn’t want to yet, just in case.

“I want you to be happy, Hermione,” he’d whispered, running a thumb over my hand. “But I want to be happy too. After everything, we deserve to have lasting love, don’t you think?”

I nodded and he had drawn me into him with a hug, both of us crying.

We’d promised to remain friends, but the divorce was still awful. It was hard to think about each other dating and I decided to take a Ministry secondment in America for the summer, hoping time and not seeing each other would tamper those feelings. We didn’t want to ruin our friendship.

* * *

I had passed Gaga’s house deed to myself when I removed my parents' memories. At the time I felt bad, but now I was grateful. I had taken on a strange assignment, but one that the Ministry wanted done. How much of Muggle Wicca and other witch phenomena was based on real wizarding magic.

Gaga’s house was stuffed full of the books I would need already but I also sent the scant pieces of information the Ministry already had over there. I arranged for the Portkey to bring me to the hill I had loved as a child. The summer night air was cool and I shivered in the wind. The swing was still there but the ropes were frayed and the seat partially broken.

I removed my shoes to feel the familiar grass underneath them and promised myself I would go barefoot whenever I could. I traipsed my way to Gaga’s house. I’m still not sure if I noticed the lights on the other side of the creek.

Gaga’s house was dusty and cold. I cast some quick cleaning charms and deposited my small bag in the main bedroom that used to be Gaga’s. The gauzy curtain still hanging from the ceiling and covering the bed with its mismatched pillows and colourful bedspread. Some more cleaning charms and I lay down, already exhausted.

The next morning I looked at the clothes I had brought but realised I didn’t want jeans and summer tops. The morning was already ratcheting up in temperature and my clothes I’d slept in felt sticky on my body.

I took a cool shower and let myself air dry. There was no one around for miles, even after many years, the small town nearby had gotten bigger on the other side, not coming any closer. I briefly wondered if it was something about the Malfoy place that prevented it.

I shook all the clothes I had brought on my bed, but none of them felt right. I put on a short satin bathrobe and walked into the hall, tugging at the string in the ceiling to bring down the attic stairs. It was incredibly dusty so I waved my wand as I went clearing it while covering my mouth with a sleeve.

The boxes were still up here full of Gaga’s belongings. I searched them until I found the three I wanted, tapping them to float down the stairs with me.

I swept all my clothing back into my bag and opened one of the boxes. It was Gaga’s dresses. Long, flowing ankle-length dresses with embroidery and lace. Nothing too colourful, unlike her decor, her clothing had been neutral. Each one I took out and cleaned, repairing where needed, hanging them in the closet. Only five had been unsalvageable.

I had left the fourth dress out. It was black with flowing lace sleeves and a low neckline. The material light and made for circulating air. I put it on, and relished the way the cool air near the floor eddied up it. I also promised myself to forgo underwear where I could this summer, it was too constricting in this heat.

I spent that first day getting everything ready, cleaning the house and preparing an area in the kitchen that would serve as one research area, deciding on placing another in the lounge by the low coffee table. I had always enjoyed sitting on the floor when I needed to concentrate.

I went into the town nearby and gathered food and other essentials, reacquainting myself with the area. It was certainly bigger now but the grocer introduced herself to me having remembered my Gaga. A couple others, one from the bookshop and another from the chemist were curious about me, calling Gaga’s place “the Witch House”. She must have been a bit of a local legend.

Returning and immediately shucking the sandals I was wearing, I put everything away. But something still didn’t feel right, the area didn’t feel whole yet. I climbed the hill in the low sun of evening. I repaired the ropes and the seat of the swing. I sat in it, letting the breeze flutter my dress. I looked out as the sky pinked and purpled, the orange reaching to hug the yellow grass before slowly slipping below the horizon. I walked back.

I fell into a routine. I dressed in Gaga’s clothes and I researched. I took a walk at lunchtime, sometimes into town and others just around the countryside, crunching on an apple, plum or other various fruits the local market sold. I would resume working, methodically moving through Gaga’s spellbooks to see what worked and what didn’t. Only about 30% of it was even close to accurate so far. Much of the spells and rituals I found needed inherent magic to quicken them and some were just nonsense.

At twilight I would sit in the swing on the hill, listening to the oak leaves chatter above me and watch the breeze play flirtatiously with my hair. Sometimes I would swing, either high and sweeping or idly. Other times, I simply sat and watched the sun set until the midnight blue night air prickled my skin. I always sat facing the field, I never looked over the other side of the creek. From what I could tell it was as dead over there as my friendship with a boy I had loved in my youth.

I was making great progress on my research. I had discovered that some of the potions in Gaga’s spellbooks did work, weakly, but when they were prepared correctly they did manifest some properties of the wizarding version. That day was bright and I stood up from where I sat on the floor, my dress pooling on the scattered cushions. I stretched, today’s dress was one of my favourites, black lace flowing, sweeping the ground, long sleeves covering most of my hands, just my black-tipped fingers peeking out. The wide neckline showing my delicate collarbone and the back dipping low. I suspected this one must have been from Gaga’s younger days as most of the dresses were loose and ethereal on my slimmer frame, however this one chased over my form like water on satin.

Donning an almost ridiculous wide-brimmed white sunhat and a pair of dark sunglasses, I caught sight of myself in the mirror of the hallway as I put my sandals on. I suppose my outfit was quite formal, like I was heading to an event. Indulging my newfound status as the mysterious English Wiccan that had taken residence of the Witch House, I added bright red lips to my usual careful makeup and a winking cat’s eye to my lids.

I headed into the town slowly, taking my time, picking wild herbs as I went, placing them in a basket I had brought with me.

Usually I received some stares when I went into town and a few of the young men had taken a liking to me, going out of their way to run into me when I was in the grocer’s or at the weekend markets.

However today my outfit was turning heads everywhere. I had to admit, it was nice to be mysterious somewhere unlike in Britain where I was known to practically every witch and wizard.

A running gait caught up with me. “Hello there, Miss Granger,” a drawling accent greeted me. I didn’t stop allowing him to walk by my side.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Hazelton,” I replied, not offering anything else up.

“I tell you every time to call me Ash,” he tells me. I can hear his good natured laugh, tawny arms deliberately brushing against mine as we walk down the street.

“And I tell you everytime that as long as you insist on calling me Miss Granger I will not adhere to your request,” my voice came out silkily and I felt him shiver. I turned my face away slightly, allowing the wide brim of my hat to hide my mirth. I had forgotten what it was like to flirt with someone.

Suddenly I saw a glimmer in the air. I was being watched not just looked at, _watched_. I stopped still trying to find where it was coming from.

“Miss Granger?” Ash queried, as I curiously tilted my head trying to find the distortion of the air again.

Removing my sunglasses with eyes downcast before slowly bringing my gaze up to Ash I watched him gulp. “Would you mind accompanying me to the grocery, Mr. Hazelton?” I kept my voice even but in truth I was unnerved, I’d sensed magic beyond my own and I wasn’t sure what that meant. A cold clamp settling in me at what it _might_ mean.

Ash was incredibly enthusiastic in proffering me his arm as I replaced my sunglasses, I gave a hidden eye roll at the way his chest puffed out like he’d won some mighty prize.

Once we had entered the grocer’s and Ash’s friend at the register had gaped to see my arm linked with his, Ash turned to brag to his mate. I quickly picked up the items I needed, writing a list of what I’d bought with the appropriate money and a tip for the inconvenience and slyly placed it on the counter while Ash and his friend were out the front of the store, before slipping out the back. I crossed back roads and headed home through the fields rather than the country lanes, the sun warm on my back.

I saw a glimpse of the small dissonance again as I walked up the cracked pathstones to the front door of Gaga’s house. I turned, but there was nothing in the field beyond the browning garden. I knew my wards were strong enough that only those I wanted to enter would be able to.

The cool hush of the house closed around me as I shut the door but I found myself craving the possessive, encompassing touch of the sun so I gathered the book I was currently researching and exited via the kitchen door. My now bare feet feeling their way through the yellow grass as I walked up the hill. There was no feeling of being watched anymore and I cast a stickiness charm on my hands and feet, climbing the tree like I had when I was child, going even higher than back then. I found a branch that curved to support my back where a shaft of sunlight skewered through the leaves.

I had been comfortably sitting there for a couple of hours with the aid of some cushioning charms when crackling swishes interrupted my afternoon reverie. Heart pounding, I quickly cast a Disillusionment and Silencing charm on myself, keeping my wand at the ready.

Looking down, all I could see was a pair of expensive black shoes. Still shiny and immaculate. My perfect summer of recovery lost in a moment when I realised who was there, willing him not to go exploring the tree the way we used to. He didn’t though, instead the familiar creaking of rope taught against bark sounded and I could see where the tree was disturbed by a weight pulling upon it.

A bloom of anger erupted in my stomach. I didn’t think of the swing as ours anymore, it was mine and how dare he sit there when he had relinquished all rights when we were eleven.

I threw myself on my back, looking into the sky instead. For all I knew he had been using the swing for years, his family maybe still coming here throughout his Hogwarts years.

I couldn’t focus on anything until the branch indicated the weight had come off and the same steps had receded away. I waited another half an hour but couldn’t bring myself to climb down just in case I’d see him. I Apparated with a crack into Gaga’s house.

As soon as I did I cursed myself. I shouldn’t be hiding and letting him mess with my time here. I was sure he would want to avoid me as much as I wanted to avoid him. I could learn to share the swing… maybe.

At the cusping period between afternoon and night, I grabbed my sunhat again to protect my peripheral vision and went up the hill, just sitting tonight, feeling the breeze play across the open back of my dress and I watched a deep red bleed throughout the sky, a stray breeze picked the sunhat off my head and I didn’t need to turn to hear the gentle splash as it settled in the creek behind me. I let it be, I’d break the hold the creek had on me some other time.

I had been absorbed in my work the next day and hadn’t ventured outside. But when the late sun twinkled a rainbow prism enveloping my notes in colour I realised I was late.

I rushed up the hill, holding the hem of my dress up to walk quicker. I was focusing on where I was putting my feet so didn’t notice until I had crested the hill. My sunhat was resting on the swing, it was windy today, my hair blowing in the wind and my dress fluttering around my ankles. The hat stayed. A Sticking charm. It had been him, the creek either caught the hat somewhere along the bank or he had gotten there quicker than before the current could take it too far. Either way, he must have seen me to know it was mine.

I waved away the charm, taking the hat in my hands. I wondered if he was spying on me now. I flung the hat into the air watching it get caught in the blustering winds. I used a blast of magic to destroy it into thousands of confetti pieces. I whirled to look at the manor behind me. It was lit from within. I hated knowing I was probably being watched. Turning into the rope of the swing I spent breathless minutes holding onto the thick cord, standing on the outside, trying to compose myself, gripping my arm where the scar still rested in my skin.

As much as I tried to only hold resentment for him and his whole family, gratitude for both him and his mother saving Harry at different times surfaced. I hated that I couldn’t steel myself against it. In that moment I missed Ron terribly, he’d always been so good at comforting me. I sunk to the ground, the rope burning my hand. And I cried, wild wracking cries emanating out of me, as I collapsed on the seat of the swing, wishing I could move so I couldn’t be seen but I couldn’t get up and I’d probably splinch myself if I tried to Apparate. A petty thought searing my brain that at least I knew he wouldn’t come out here. He was good at doing nothing. Then I felt the cool cloak of night settle on my shoulders. I had missed the sunset.

The day after I had missed the first sunset since I had arrived here I stayed inside for three days. I kept the curtains closed and worked as much as I could. The fourth day I had slept fitfully, sick of being held hostage by my own fear. I woke later than usual, it was late morning and my sheets were sweaty and stuck to me. I dressed in a diaphanous white embroidered dress, the layers of silk allowing one to billow and another to stick close to my skin. The round neckline shifted around the divot of my collarbone as I crested the hill, determination gripping me.

I sat on the swing for the first time facing the creek, exhaling. I wasn’t sure why I was still afraid of this, a deep-seated childhood phobia I guessed, the reason for which had escaped me a long time ago. Sweat was already prickling my neck, it was so hot today. I started swinging, just enjoying it at first, pointing my toes and relishing the blowing and buffeting of the dress behind me. I cast a quick Sticking charm on my dress as I was still adhering to my no underwear rule and I could never be sure when I was being watched by him. Closing my eyes I launched myself out of the swing and plunged into the creek.

The falling was clumsy and awkward but at least I didn’t scream. I hit the water, the cold erupting around me, bubbles frothing and tickling me. I sunk to the bottom and let my body rise. I kept my eyes closed as I crested the water, stretching out as the sunlight warmed me. I could feel both my dress and hair float around me, the front sticking down with the power of the charm.

The warbling of the water as it hit my eardrums calmed me and I felt one fear melt away. I had missed out on this as a child and I was going to make up for it now. The water felt like satin in my fingers and the smell of newly-grown grass invaded my senses. I still kept my eyes closed, it was nearly noon now and I didn’t want to blind myself. I noticed that prickling feeling of being watched again when my feet touched the shadow of the bridge. I turned in the water and brought my feet down as it was shallower here.

I felt my hair slick down to my waist, the hot sun already starting to dry the top of it. I had my back to the bridge and raised my arms together, cradling one in the other to cover myself knowing the wet white fabrics would have already shown far too much. Slowly I half-turned, raising my gaze and he just stood there.

He was leaning on the bridge, fingers idly intertwined. He didn’t say anything, his face was impassive. Well, it was done now. I knew for sure he was here. Two fears conquered in one day.

I tucked my hair behind my ear and waded to the shore, making it up the gently sloping bank and heading home, wringing my sopping hair over my shoulder. There was no point casting a drying charm and I liked how I felt right now. Like I had achieved something.

I had set up under a tree in Gaga’s unruly garden for the afternoon. It was so hot but I was having a great time in the shade. I had found a personal notebook of Gaga’s and I laughed at the entries, the whimsical endearing style making my heart swell.

Then it started to become twilight and I made my way up the slope. I was watching the ground like I knew what was coming and sure enough as I made it to the top, those black shoes glinted in the dying light as he leaned up against the oak. I didn’t acknowledge him at all, sitting in the swing and gathering my hair to fall like a curtain between us.

He scoffed. “That’s hardly going to work, Granger, I’ve basically seen you naked.”

I didn’t say anything. There was no point.

“Nothing to say, Granger?” He was just trying to goad me. It wasn’t going to work. I watched the sky stretch out its pinks and oranges like it was blushing. I smiled like he wasn’t there.

“Hey,” he gently kicked where the rope bound the seat of the swing. “I’m trying to talk to you.”

As the sky started to turn purple, I started to swing. He tried to converse with me on every descent but I still ignored him. When the last vestiges of day turned to night, I slowed the swing, getting up and heading down the hill.

“This isn’t over, Granger!” he called after me.

The next sunset he thought he’d been very clever and was sitting in the swing. Of course it didn’t matter one bit and I just sat on him like he wasn’t there. I made a charm to start swinging us and as I leaned into it he got a face full of hair.

“Oh bloody hell, Granger,” he said. I had been slipping off him as we went higher and he grabbed my waist to keep me on. “You would seriously rather do this than talk to me?”

I didn’t reply, what was there to say? ‘Oh sorry Malfoy, I didn’t see you there’?

He huffed at my silence but let us keep swinging though he could have stopped it. The sky blackened with stars.

“You know we will eventually have to stop and I won’t let you go. Then you’ll have to acknowledge me,” his voice was dripping with the smirk I knew must be on his face. I Apparated away.

The next day he was waiting again, looking far more determined. He had changed tactics again, instead of sitting facing the sunset, he faced towards his manor.

I walked around to where he sat then hiked up the hem of my skirt and slipped my legs on either side of him, seated on his lap again but this time facing him. I left my face serenely blank as I looked past him to the horizon.

“You know, when you Apparated yesterday, that _was_ an acknowledgment of my presence, no use keeping up this pretense now,” he said, a coy sound to him like he was surprised at what I’d done but it was a surprise he’d wanted.

I finally looked at him, his delicate features when he was a child had morphed into handsomeness, the wavering light colouring his hair. _Fuck it_ I thought, _maybe this will get him to leave me alone… and get him out of my system for good_.

I leaned him and kissed him, he definitely hadn’t thought I’d do that. His soft lips opening with a gasp which I took full advantage of, rolling my tongue against his. His hands pulled me closer, flush against his chest. I kept my hands on the ropes. His reaction to me stretched tight beneath his robes, poking me right where I want him. I break away from the kiss and he is breathless, I cross my legs around the back of him and pull myself even closer rubbing myself on him. His eyes widen in surprise when he realises I’m not wearing anything under the black gauzy dress.

I was watching the sunset over his shoulder, feeling the thrill of desire rush through my veins, lighting me up with the sky.

“Granger, what are y-” I still him with another kiss and his hands are exploring again, tangled in my hair, running up the V in the back of the dress, trailing down my neck. He is twitching beneath me, wanting more. A pulse throbbed through me, a dark pull of wanting that was decidedly not healthy.

I pulled my mouth away again, looking at him, his silver eyes dilated with lust, red blooming on his cheeks. I just raise an eyebrow and look pointedly downwards before pulling my gaze back up to him. His eyes widening as he realises what I mean.

Not needing to be told twice, he easily lifts me with one hand while arranging himself.

“Are you ready?” he asks and I nod. He lowers me onto him and it feels wonderful. I clutch onto the ropes, dropping my head onto his shoulder. I shiver, eliciting a moan from him. “Fuck, Granger this-”

But I’ve wordlessly set the swing going again. He quickly casts the Sticking Charm on himself to stay on the seat and grips onto me, trusting me to hold on to the ropes.

I shutter my eyes as the natural rhythm of the swing pulls him even further into me. Draco is untying the straps on my shoulders. One hand bracing against my bare back as his other hand and mouth find my breasts. The swing allowing a slow push and pull that lets us take our time.

I let him appreciate everything about me and he finds my mouth again and my brain melts, pleasure rippling down my spine. I start moving my hips, squeezing myself against him with my heels digging into his back. He reciprocates as our tongues lathe each other. Pulling me tighter and tighter against him. My breathing becomes too laboured to continue the kiss and I bury my face in his neck.

That spindling feeling is growing at the base of my spine, thrumming in the night air. Our movements become frenzied, higher and higher, the feeling building. Then I am struck, a jolt racing through my body, a gasp passing from my lips as that glorious pulsing energy throbs and ebbs through me, my mind tingling.

“Oh fuck, that feels amazing,” Draco says, as I flutter around him. Pulling tighter a couple more times before saying, “Oh fuck, I’m gonna-” then he groaned against me, unspooling himself, large twitches and shudders wracking his body.

I stop the charm on the swing and we breathe heavily as the apparatus slows down.

“Granger I-” he starts but I bring my face in front of his and give him a hard stare.

He digs his heels into the ground to bring us to a stop, finally dirtying those perfectly shiny shoes of his.

“Seriously?” he says, angry now.

I just roll my eyes and get off him, casting charms on myself and tying my dress at the shoulders again.

He has righted himself as well but stayed sitting on the swing. “We just did that and you _still_ won’t talk to me?”

I stare at him blankly, tilting my head. I flick my wand and the ropes fall from the tree, planting him on the ground with a thud.

He looks up at me, baffled. “Really? Isn’t there anything you want to say to me?”

I take a couple of steps like I’m thinking about it, tapping my wand against my mouth. He just watches me, relaxing a little. Looking at him again I point my wand at the ground.

“ _Incendio_ ” I light the grounded swing on fire he scrambles away quickly, cursing at me.

I’m already walking down the hill though.

He doesn’t chase after me for which I’m grateful. My eyes are brimming with tears. Much like my parents, that swing needed to go so it wouldn’t be used against me. But it was one of the last things in my life that was just for me and now it’s gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have started writing a third part but I'm not happy with it and I think the story ending here also makes sense. 
> 
> Thank you very much for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

I cry myself to sleep that night. I sob, apologising to Ron again and again. My first romantic experience after him and it’s someone he intensely dislikes. I cry for the young girl who loved that fool of a boy. I cry for the teenager that was tormented by him and tortured by his family. I cry for my Gaga who would be so sad to see that swing destroyed. And I cry for myself, feeling my loneliness and the cracks of an empty life crash over me.

I stayed inside for three days but I didn’t work, I cared for my bruised and broken heart. I found pieces of it in bubble baths, in mirror calls with Harry, in reading a book that had been a childhood favourite. I slowly put it back together and tried to hold it delicately. And then there was a knock at my door.

I readied my wand, I had no idea who could have made it past the wards but surely if they wanted to kill me, they wouldn’t knock.

Apprehensively, I eased the door open a little, “Hey, ‘Mione,” and Harry stood there. I squealed, leaping into his arms, we spun around, stumbling a little, half-falling onto the ground, Harry leaning against the door and me with my back to the outside, bent legs crossing over Harry’s outstretched ones.

“What are you doing here?” I ask joyously.

“You seemed sad, I thought a visit could cheer you up,” Harry told me, twining my fingers with his. His other hand pulled at the tiered white lace I was wearing. “You’re really going for this Wicca thing, aren’t you?”

I shrug, “I thought I needed a change.”

Harry grinned, “No, it looks good, I like it.”

“Thanks,” I say, nudging him with a shoulder.

“So how’s Malfoy been? Not too horrible, I hope.” Harry said. An icy chill ran through me.

“What do you mean? You knew Malfoy was here?”

Harry furrowed his brow. “He’s your security detail. I sent a message to your office about it. You didn’t think the Ministry would let you go without making sure you were safe?”

“I left to come here early... I honestly had no idea.” Oh gods, what have I done.

“Didn’t you find it weird that Malfoy was in Nowhere, America?” he asked, looking at me shocked. He turned his head to look out my door.

I remained quiet, picking at a spot in the wooden floor. “Not really,” I said eventually.

Harry just looked at me. “You’re going to come with me, right now.” His voice was serious and his eyes flashed at me. I had rarely seen this side of Harry, and hopped to my feet hastening after him as he strode to a spot in the field that was shimmering slightly. I stayed at the edge of Gaga’s garden where my wards protected me.

Harry poked the shimmering hard.

“Ow, bloody hell, Potter!” came the indignant voice of Draco, removing the Disillusionment charm.

“I think you both have some explaining to do,” Harry said.

“Could you explain to me first, Harry?” I was pointedly not looking at Draco.

Harry ran a hand through his hair. “I suppose you’ve been a little out of the loop with the divorce and all.” He sighed. “Malfoy just finished his Auror training, he picked this as his first assignment. To be honest, I was a little apprehensive, but when Malfoy said his family had a house in the area and he was already known in town it made sense.”

“I thought he was tormenting me,” I tell Harry. He looked at me puzzled. “I knew he was around, but I never saw him, just felt him watching me.”

“Yeah, because that’s my job, Granger,” Draco grumbled.

“I haven’t spoken to him the whole time I’ve been here,” I say to Harry, ignoring Draco again.

Harry seemed even more confused. “Is that true?” he asked Draco who just nodded. Harry turned back to me. “Then how did you-” he stopped, shaking his head.

He turned to Draco rather harshly, the other wizard giving him a wary look. “You know, Malfoy, strictly speaking the Auror department frowns upon its officers sleeping with those they are meant to protect.”

I ducked my head, inspecting my nails.

Draco floundered, mouth falling open. “How the fuck did you know that?”

Harry just pointed at me. “You have no idea how many times I’ve had to endure that look from Hermione. I knew as soon as she told me she wasn’t surprised to see you.”

There was an awkward pause. Harry spoke again, “I think now it is your turn,” he gestured between Draco and I.

Draco sighed. “Miny and I have known each other a long time.”

I bristled. “You do not get to call me that.” My voice was dark and loaded with warning.

“Oh so _now_ you’ll talk to me?” He fired back.

“You do _not_ get to call me that.” We glared at each other. Harry was looking at me, waiting. “Our families both summered here before school. We’ve known each other since we were seven.”

“I was six,” Draco corrected.

“We used to be pretty close, he used to be nice. Even sweet.”

“And she was loud,” Draco added. “But fun,” he grudgingly admitted.

Harry’s face showed how highly unexpected he found all this. There was a long moment of silence. Finally he said, “It’s hot, can we go inside, ‘Mione?”

“She’ll have to let me in,” Draco told him.

I crossed my arms. That wasn’t gonna happen.

Harry ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “Hermione, open your wards to allow Draco in, for me? Please? Look-” and he started poking Draco’s upper arm. “He’s harmless.”

Draco looked like he wanted to kill him but didn’t do anything else, every poke slightly jostling him.

“Wait, you two are friends now?” I asked.

“Wait, you two are lovers now?” Harry copycatted back.

“Ugh. Fine,” I turned on my heel, waving my wand to change the ward allowing Draco in. I stalked into the house. I summoned the jug of mojito mix I had in the fridge and poured three glasses, sending them to Harry and Draco. I downed half of mine immediately.

Harry had come in, taken his drink and flopped on the couch, making himself at home like he did wherever I was.

Draco had stepped in almost reverently, looking all around. “It’s just like I remember,” he said softly. My heart tried to waver at the way he smiled as he spotted familiar things. I reminded it that it would break again if it tried.

I sat in an armchair beside Harry, curling up. And Draco sat in another further away, he tilted the glass in his hand. “Your Gaga used to drink these, every Friday and Saturday,” he said.

I frowned into my glass, finishing it and reaching for a refill. I hated that he knew that.

“So, tell me about it,” Harry said. “What were your summers like?”

Draco took the lead telling Harry how I’d told him I was a witch and he hadn’t known I meant a Wicca witch, he talked about the swing and how we would play together. Draco was more animated than I had ever seen him. Laughing and reminiscing about our past.

Harry paused him when he talked about the otters. “Hermione, your Patronus is an otter,” he said, idly and I felt my cheeks bloom, shooting him a look.

“Is it really?” Draco asked. I looked away, but Harry nodded. I peeked up at Draco and he had a very odd expression on his face like hurt and happiness rolled together.

“And you used to do tarot, ‘Mione?” Harry laughed since he very well knew my feelings about Divination.

I gave an angry tsk. “Used to. It’s all nonsense.”

“Didn’t your Gaga predict you would be trapped underwater and a shark would rescue you? That’s why you were so afraid of the creek,” Draco was looking at me, curious that I’d forgotten.

And forgotten I had, yet that had come true in our fourth year. I didn’t want to think about the implications of it.

“So what happened to this oh so wonderful friendship?” Harry asked.

“Malfoy found out what I really am,” I said, removing the glamour from my arm and laying it out so they could see. The word still puckered and red on my skin. Discomfort flowed into the room, tainting it.

“I can’t believe you never said you knew him, Hermione,” Harry blurted out.

“To be fair, by the time we actually became friends, Harry, I had resigned myself to the fact that the person Draco was at school was certainly not the one I knew from my summer holidays,” I said, sipping my drink again.

“She’s right, I wasn’t,” Draco sighed. Flicking his eyes to mine he said, “I’ve tried to apologise to you, you just wouldn’t let me.”

I ran my finger around the rim of my glass. “And yet you still found it within yourself to fuck me,” I challenged.

He just smirked. “Well, you were willing. I wasn’t going to pass that up.”

Harry just groaned. “So I’m in desperate need of a refill,” he said, picking up the nearly empty pitcher and heading to the kitchen.

“Instructions are on the fridge,” I called after him, my eyes still on Draco.

He got up from his chair and came towards me, crouching in front of my chair.

“I really am sorry you know,” he said, his voice soft and eyes earnest. “Can we try to be friends? There’s a lot I want to talk to you about.”

I thought about the easy, jovial way he and Harry interacted. Draco must be significantly different if Harry acted like that around him.

I threw my hands in the air. “OK, fine!” I said exasperatedly.

Draco grinned, pleased he got his way finally. “Now can we please let Harry have some fun? I’m sure he’s using one of his precious leave days to be here.”

“You’re right,” I concede, annoyed as he grins wider. “What do you suggest?”

“We could go break every heart in town by having two handsome men on your arm. It is the market tonight,” he offered, devilishly.

“That would be fun, but I doubt I’ll break every heart though.” I did like the market, and there were bars and cafes open down the street where the stalls set up.

“It will at least make your precious ‘Mr. Hazelton’ lose confidence. And I’ll make sure to break the ones you don’t,” he told me with a wink.

“I knew you were following me that day! I was really creeped out!” I playfully hit him on the arm. Damn it. I was forgiving him, it shouldn’t be this easy.

“I know. That’s why you jumped in the creek. And it’s why you chose that particular dress, isn’t it, Granger,” his eyes were dangerous now and I felt my heart beating fast in my chest. “Sure, you did it for yourself, to not be afraid. But you did it a little bit for me, you wanted me to watch.”

I swallowed. A very small part of me pinged an admission. He was right, I had.

Harry came back and found us staring at each other, Draco close to me.

“Oh for fuck’s sak-” he said bringing the whole pitcher to his mouth, drinking straight from it.

* * *

We decided to wait until the evening to venture into town. The three of us drinking more and chatting. Harry and Draco told me stories about the Auror department and I updated them on my research. Harry and Draco wanted to explore the house and Draco recounted stories from our summers. We went up to the attic and opened some of the boxes I hadn’t got to, finding photo albums amongst the tchotchkes and ornaments.

I showed Harry my Gaga, the still photos not quite capturing how alive she had been. I saw instances of my new wardrobe scattered throughout the album. She’d had black hair when she was younger, it curled down her back making her look mysterious and alluring.

There were also lots of embarrassing pictures of me when I was younger. Me with Gaga using the tarot, me with my parents, my hair wild and my teeth growing beyond what my mouth could comfortably accommodate. There was one photo of Draco and me. It was from the first summer and we were on the swing together. That was when his hair was long and his mother would braid it.

“Wow,” Harry said. “You told me, but it’s still so weird seeing evidence of it.”

Draco took the photo from Harry but I was distracted. The absence of my parents now clawed at me as I was bombarded by photo after photo showing how much they loved me. Seeing it, Harry drew me to him.

“C’mon, ‘Mione. Enough memories for one day. The sun is going down, want to show me this special hill of yours?”

“Sure,” I told him. “But I destroyed the swing.” I walked away, not looking at Draco. I could hear them following me though. Draco was telling Harry about how I had once stood up to his father despite him being so awful and imposing.

“That sounds like our Hermione alright,” Harry said. “I don’t think I was ever prouder of her than when she slapped you in third year.”

I didn’t hear Draco’s grumpy reply though as I climbed the hill. I stopped staring when I reached the top. The swing was repaired and more beautiful than before. The seat a shining white, the ropes covered with leaves, blooms of purple and white wisteria decorating them.

“I thought you said you destroyed it?” Harry asked, bringing an arm around me as a shiver ran through my body.

“Someone repaired it,” I replied, staring before settling myself on the ground to watch the sun descend in the sky. I felt Harry turn to look at Draco something silent and wondering passing between them before they both sat one on either side of me.

We didn’t say anything for a while as the sun dipped low in the sky, the first pinpricks of stars peeking through. I stood up, brushing myself off, wandlessly removing the grass stains from the white lace.

“It is very beautiful up here, Hermione,” Harry’s voice softly broke the silence.

“We should head into town now. I could do with some food,” I turned, holding out a hand to each of them, helping to pull them up. Harry let go and moved ahead a little, I lingered my grasp on Draco.

“Thank you,” I whispered my eyes downcast before I slipped my fingers out from his and caught up with Harry, linking arms with him.

* * *

We quickly refreshed ourselves back at Gaga’s house before heading out, Harry adding a couple sprigs of wisteria to my hair as he waited for me to finish my makeup, I opted for a dark wine coloured lipstick tonight to emphasise my apparent witchiness. As we strolled, I pointed out my favourite parts of the walk, laughing as Harry and Draco ribbed each other, Harry’s arm draped over me warm against my off the shoulder dress.

The town was alive tonight, the fairy lights creating a pretty glow as the smells and sounds of the night market came closer.

I knew Draco had been joking about breaking hearts but we did encounter a number of longing looks. People seemed to know Draco as he received waves and nods as we moved through. These usually were accompanied by not-quite-quiet enough whispers about the Malfoy heir hanging out with the witch.

“Oh wow, you’re not a wallflower anywhere are you, Malfoy?” Harry laughed. He was clearly enjoying himself, he must be feeling the same effect as I did coming here, apart from being known as the town witch, no one really paid too much attention to me. For Harry who had always hated the fame, he was relishing his anonymity.

“My family owns a lot of businesses and property here,” he replied, giving another acknowledgment to a passer-by.

“Even though it’s Muggles?” Harry asked.

Draco shrugged. “Money is money,” he stated simply.

Harry looked down at me and rolled his eyes sending me into a fit of giggles.

“Miss Granger?” a voice came from behind.

I turned, Harry’s arm dropping from my shoulder. “Good evening, Mr. Hazelton.”

Ash looked between me and the wizard beside me. “This is Harry,” I said, with a gesture.

Harry held out a hand which Ash took, “Nice to meet you,” he said. “I’m Hermione’s brother.”

Ash gave such a look of relief that I had to tap my fingers against my mouth to stop from laughing, Harry giving me a cheeky side-eye.

“You didn’t say good-bye the last time I saw you, how did you vanish like that?” Ash asked me.

“Magic,” I replied with a flourish of my hand and a playful smile. Ash looked at me half-believing it, smiling back. Then his eyes slid to someone just over my shoulder.

“Hello, Mr. Malfoy, sir,” he said. Harry laughed but turned it into a cough.

“Ashford,” Draco nodded to him. “You working at the restaurant tonight?” Draco brushed my hair slightly off my shoulder, adjusting the elastic resting on my upper arm.

“Yes, sir,” Ash replied, following the movement. “I was taking a break, I ought to be getting back though. Goodbye Miss Granger,” He gave a wary look at Draco but didn’t say anything as he walked further into town.

Waiting until Ash had moved far enough away, I whacked Draco’s arm lightly and Harry released his laughter.

“Malfoy, you bastard, that was mean,” Harry grinned.

“Yeah, I like him!” I exclaimed, pouting.

“Not as much as you like me,” Draco said, walking backward facing Harry and I. “Come on, let’s get dinner.”

Harry gave me an infuriating look that was knowing and teasing all at once. He caught up with Malfoy, clapping him on the back and the two chatted about something conspiratorially. I followed a little listlessly behind.

I joined them at an Italian restaurant that had cute tables outside where you could see the passers-by and hear the acoustic guitar of the busker across the town square.

They had already ordered wine, red to match my lipstick. They had arranged the chairs so I would be sitting close to both of them, looking out to the street.

I sat in the seat while Harry and Draco kept talking to each other. It was angled more towards Harry and simultaneously Draco snaked his arm around the back of the wood, leaning into me and Harry swept my legs to lie across him, his hand on my ankle, fingers idly playing with the lace hem of my dress. They ignored the stares this scene afforded us.

The sneaky weasels had clearly orchestrated this somehow. They’d made it virtually impossible for anyone to approach me tonight while concurrently making sure that I was enveloped by Draco, every word he said breezing across my ears, tantalizing my skin as it grazed past.

I glared at Harry who just grinned at me through whatever Quidditch discussion the two were having, giving my ankle a friendly little squeeze to tell me he wasn’t going to allow me to readjust. Even more annoyingly, Draco laughed at something Harry had said, the sensation of it reverberating through his chest to pulse through mine and I fluttered my eyes at how good it felt.

This just wasn’t fair.

Harry tapped my ankle and handed me a glass of wine with his other before picking up his own, touching the receptacles together. “If you hadn’t figured it out already... I approve, Hermione,” he said with a sparkle.

“Why, thank you, Potter,” Draco replied, taking a sip of his own wine. “I’ll take good care of her, I promise.”

“I suppose I don’t get a say in this?” I asked, taking a large mouthful. It was velvety on my tongue and delicious. Of course it was if Draco picked it.

“And what would you say?” Draco asked. “Will you have me again, Miss Granger?” His fingers were circling my bare shoulder and from the smirk I could hear in his voice he could see the upraised hairs on my neck and the delicious shiver that had run down me.

Harry laughed at us making a face.

“There is one thing,” I say, more wine disappearing into me. “What about Ron?”

There was a moment where they stilled, not sure what to say.

“Ron has been dating someone for a while, actually,” Harry told me. He searched my face to see if I was OK. Luckily for myself and him he found only relief.

“Anyone I know?” I ask, distracted. Draco had become more bold, his hand now caressing the side of my neck.

“Megan.” The word escaped quickly from Harry and he downed the rest of his wine, topping it back up. Draco laughed at his discomfort.

I blinked sitting up slightly. “Megan? My assistant Megan? The person I most rely on in my office Megan? Could possibly be misconstrued as something that started earlier than the divorce Megan?”

Harry just nodded not trusting himself to speak.

“I’m not such a bad prospect now am I?” Malfoy purred against me.

I tilted my head and nodded. He wasn’t wrong there. My dating Malfoy and Ron dating my assistant put us on a pretty level playing field.

“Huh, alright then,” I settled back into the chair properly. Harry slowly turned to me, having already drained his second glass, drinking through the awkwardness.

“That easy?” he asked as if it were a trick.

“As easy as Malfoy,” I teased.

“Hey, my wanton angel, may I remind you who it was that seduced me without even uttering a single word?”

“Ugh, you’re going to make me regret assisting you, aren’t you, Malfoy,” Harry groaned into his third glass but he was having a great time, I could tell. He was also pretty tipsy now.

“Thank you for telling me, Harry. That can’t have been easy for you,” I rock his thigh a bit with my foot.

He smiled at me and then our food came out.

* * *

We headed back to Gaga’s place around 11pm and continued drinking with games and listening to Gaga’s record collection. My face was sore from laughing and for the first time in a long time a happiness settled itself on me like it used to.

It’s 1am when Harry falls asleep, snoring loudly. Draco and I laughingly maneuver him into one of the guest bedrooms which I had luckily cleaned when I first arrived. We leave him in his clothes but I take off his glasses and place a blanket over him. Draco brings a Pepper-Up Potion and a glass of water from the kitchen, placing them on the nightstand by Harry’s glasses.

As we shut the door, Draco turned to me and said, “So Granger,” leaning me into the opposite side of the doorframe, his face so close I am sharing his breath. “What is it I have to do to call you Miny again?”

I bite my lip in thought.

“Oh fuck,” Draco says, watching the movement before closing the gap between us, capturing his lips with mine. He leans the rest of his body into me, growling against my skin when I wrap my hands around his neck to pull him closer.

It feels different this time, I am much more aware of his reaction to everything now rather than selfishly taking what I need, not caring what he wanted. I wonder how I never discovered the hunger in him, the way he touched me as if he were worshipping an idol, tender and with reverence. The next moment pressing with need, fingers squeezing to leave red marks, heat scorching through me at the feeling.

“Gods I want to taste every part of you,” he breathed across my lips. I started pulling him towards my bedroom. But he stilled, “You were silent last time, Hermione. Please, I need to know…” he sounded nervous.

I came back to him, kissing along his jawline, stroking his cheek and I felt his eyes flutter closed, lashes stirring on my thumb.

“I would like very much for you to bed me, Draco Malfoy,” I told him. “And I would like to show you how much, if you’ll let me?” my voice was soft and warm. I felt his heart race beneath my wandering fingers.

He swallowed, only able to nod. I led him to the bedroom again but walked backwards, maintaining his eye contact the whole way. The candlelight from the room flickering the desire in his eyes at me.

Closing the door, I gently started unbuttoning his shirt. I took my time, occasionally standing on my tiptoes to kiss along his neck. His breath hitching in his throat every time. He danced his fingers over my exposed skin, the backs of his fingers stroking me gently like I was made of luxurious fabric. I eased the shirt from his shoulders and used my fingers to glide along every inch of him I could reach. He was stunning.

I exhaled a long breath, “Woww…” a shaky exclamation left me and adorably he blushed.

I then undid his trousers pushing them and his underwear to the floor in one motion, coming back up and pulling the dress over my head so we both stood naked. His eyes roamed over me and his mouth opened to give a shaky breath.

Naked he was even more perfect and I stepped in to hug him, giving a little moan of pleasure when his cock twitched against me. My arms roamed down his back, caressing his arse before coming up his thighs and waist before resting on his shoulders. I held his gaze so he could see the wonder in them.

“You’re just… beautiful,” I tell him. He looks away shyly like no one has ever said that before and maybe they haven’t.

I pull him into the confines of the gauzy curtain that surrounds the bed and pull him on top of me. He cradles my head with his hand.

“As soon as I saw you again. Here. On our swing, in this house, wearing such witchy clothing, I _knew_ this would happen,” he said.

“That what would happen, Draco?” I asked, bringing my hand down to stroke him and he hissed in pleasure.

“That I would fall for you Miny. That everything I felt as a child would come back tenfold. That I would finally feel whole.” He caressed my face, closing his eyes at the bliss he found in my hands.

“Do you remember the summer before your Gaga passed away? What you said to my father?”

His hands were trailing slowly over my body, mapping its contours and his words halted occasionally as he reacted to my grip on his member.

He gently eased me from him and his cock twitched longingly in its absence. He planted a kiss to my palm placing it on his face. I shook my head, my memories weren’t as clear as his. I tried to forget after he was so cruel to me in school. Maybe he revisited our summers more often than I would have guessed.

Draco laughed a little, settling beside me while our bodies still touched everywhere they could. “You told him that if you weren’t a witch then you’d be a pirate and you’d steal me away.”

“How very precocious of me,” I said with a smile, trailing light touches over him and he kissed me again.

“I used to think it was a threat,” he said, and I could feel his lips touch mine as he spoke, a yawning desire opening inside me wanting to consume him. “But later, I hoped it was a promise, that somehow you would find a way to save me from everything that was happening.”

I turned my body to face him, tangling our legs together and he curled his hand around my rear to bring me closer. “Maybe I should have,” I said but Draco shook his head.

“The hope kept me from fully crashing, gently urging me to be brave, not that I was ever quite able to get there.”

He looked sad as his thumb ran over my puckered scar hidden beneath a glamour.

“Well, this pirate thinks now they need to steal your attention,” I whisper playfully. He raises an eyebrow at me then his skin flushes when he sees the direction I’m travelling.

I dance my hands down his chest applying just enough pressure to push him onto his back as a strangled moan gets caught in his throat as he swallows.

Placing myself between his legs, I give an experimental lick pleased when his pink tip twitches up to meet me. I grab the base with my hand and give slow tastes around the head of Draco’s cock. I know he is aching for me to place it in my mouth but I tease him first until his hips are raising themselves involuntarily, his breathing laboured.

I finally close my mouth around him, tongue dancing across it, experimenting with various pressures and techniques.

“Oh, fuck, holy gods, Hermione,” Draco is stammering. “That feels absolutely amazing.”

I giggle while tasting him and he bucks at the unexpected pleasure. The movement thrusting him into me and I realise that with his size I will have to try a different angle. Keeping him in my mouth, I swivel my body so my head is now aimed toward his feet and I am able to slowly encompass all of him in my mouth and throat, my tongue continuing to roll over him.

“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck,” I hear him chant, his hands balled into the sheets. He exhales as if he is concentrating on not coming. As if needing a distraction, he lifts his fingers to circle my folds and I moan on him in pleasure making him twitch again.

“Miny you are-” he breath catches, “just incredible.”

I’m already soaking and he dips a finger into me, his thumb strumming across my bud. The thrill of pleasure that emanates from me makes me inch further down his cock, moaning.

“Oh holy fuck,” he says. “I need more of that.” With a swift motion, he picks up my legs and deposits me right over his face lapping rapturously.

My moan is more of a scream around him, vibrating through him causing another twitch in him. He hums a laugh over my clit causing me to buck against him the buzzing doing wild things as the pressure builds at the base of my spine, coiling in me.

We both pick up the pace, desperate to show the adoration we feel. His fingers trail down to capture my breasts, fingers swirling over my nipples and I copy the motion with my tongue on his cock. We are both moaning fervently on one another, the reverberations spindling into pleasure and then taking my clit in his mouth and sucking hard while plucking both my nipples I come. The orgasm bolting through me and exploding outwards as my mind fizzes and melts and I scream on him, pushing until I reach the hilt down my throat, gripping his thighs as I twitch in exquisite pleasure.

“Oh fuck, yes, Miny!” he calls out and he turns his face into my thigh as I feel him shoot into my mouth, twitching deliciously and he gives me everything he has. I swallow but keep my mouth on him. Giving slow, languorous strokes with my mouth and tongue. I know what he likes now and I give it to him. He is vibrating beneath me from overstimulation.

“Oh shit, Hermione. Th-That feels really good, but i-it might be too much,” he says. I tap his arm with my foot, telling him to relax and he does, grabbing one of my hands, but I slow down my movements even more. He is still hard in my mouth as I continue. I feel the stiffness in his body and the moans he makes as something winds itself tight in him, readying to be let go.

I can feel it coming as his body shakes even more, twitching beneath me.

“Wha-what even _is_ this?” Draco asks, “I’m- I- oh, oh _fuck_!” he exclaims and he arches into my mouth. He doesn’t burst like he did before but he wasn’t meant to. I slowly disengage from him and swivel back around, lightly stroking his body as it twitches against me violently. His eyes are glassy like he isn’t all there.

I stroke his hair and face gently until he has come all the way back. His second orgasm having sent him beyond what he’d thought possible.

He turns his face to face me still in shock. “Careful,” I tell him. “It can be a bit overwhelming at first.”

“I-” his voice comes out hoarse so he swallows and tries again. “That’s never happened to me before.” He reaches for me, clinging to me tightly. He is shaking.

“Are you OK?” I ask.

“It was just so surprising,” he says against my neck. “How is it still going through me? It’s not quite gone yet.”

“I can lessen it if you need?” I tell him, knowing the sensation all too well.

He shakes his head. “No, it’s manageable now but I think I blacked out before. But Hermione that was… I can’t even put it into words. Incredible doesn’t even come close to cutting it,” he stroked my lip with his thumb and shivered. I pulled the blanket at the foot of the bed up to cover us. Draco was still looking at me like I wasn’t real. “How the bloody hell did you do that?”

“Books and cleverness,” I reply making him laugh. I looked at him seriously. “It was an apology, for the way I acted before, the way I used you. It was also a promise if you want it. A tsunami is coming, Draco. I can feel it pulling back and when it comes it’s going to rush in and engulf me and I will give you it all. It will be overwhelming and alarming and possibly too much. So if you want to head for high ground, I suggest you do so now.”

My poor barely mended heart was ready to burst again, it had craved all encompassing love for a long time and now that it held passion in it again it was greedy and wanted more. It wanted everything.

He blinked at me. “Miny, I’ve loved you since I was six, it was so easy to turn that love to hate when we were teenagers but it has been just as easy to turn it back into love when I saw you again this summer. Your meandering walks in the afternoon, the beauty of your stare at the sunset, your smile at simple things and your sadness at difficult ones. That turned love into falling in love and that happened harder and faster than I could have imagined. Let your tsunami come, Granger. I’m already on the beach waiting for it.”

He kissed me so gently it felt like we were floating as we clasped together. My soul swelled and I let the rush come, roaring in my ears an ecstatic happiness filling me. I knew Draco could feel it as he smiled through our kiss and he grabbed me closer to him.

“I love you Miny,” he whispered. “And now you’re finally, _finally_ mine.”

* * *

It’s our tenth anniversary. It still feels like the first. We’ve kept Gaga’s house to ourselves this year. Everyone else is staying at the Malfoy manor over the creek.

We’ve maintained our summer tradition of coming here every year. We are often joined by our friends. Almost always the Potters, sometimes Theo and Neville, often Ron and his family, too.

It hadn’t worked out with Megan, but I do quite like Pansy. We pass secrets about our husbands to each other delighting in the chagrin the two men feel. She’s a good fit for Ron and he clearly adores her in a way he never did me.

I stretch in bed, arching my back against Draco who is already awake and ready for me judging by the way he pulls me close to him and his cock twitches on my back.

“Good morning love,” he says, nuzzling into my neck. “I’m so very glad that your Miny-miny mine.”

It started as a joke that became a ritual and I never leave for work without hearing it.

He slips himself inside me with ease and we gently make the most of the early morning before the temperature rockets beyond making this comfortable.

I sigh. “I love you so much, my beautiful wizard,” I already feel that spilling gold of an oncoming orgasm as he moans into my neck at my words.

It’s such a wonderful morning.

I wear the diaphanous silk dress today, Draco loves the feel of it and takes every opportunity he can to run his hands over me. It’s the same one I jumped into the creek with, for me the start of our reconnection.

We are meeting everyone at the manor as we do everyday and Malfoy swings me onto his back to carry me. I know it’s just an excuse to fondle my bare arse from beneath the white silk and I kiss his neck smiling happily as he turns to me with a grin, my arms lolling over him.

He puts me down when a gaggle of children run up to us. We let them drag us away and our friends greet us. Theo and Neville wave to us as they try and wrangle their youngest into a pair of shoes, Ginny gets up and hugs me then Draco, getting me to sit down beside her. Harry comes out from inside and his grin settles on me. He comes over and kisses me on the cheek, cupping Ginny’s face as he goes past.

“I saw him carry you over today, Mione,” Harry tells me with a twinkle in his eyes. “Ah, to be young and in love.” He walked over to Draco and gave him a hug as well.

“I’m older than you are!” I taunted him.

“Yeah, but you don’t have any kids, it ages you,” Theo said before wincing in pain as a three-year-old still shoeless foot kicks him in the face.

Draco looks at me and I make a gesture for him to go ahead. He’s just so excited I know he can’t keep it in any longer.

“Well, actually, this may be the last year we resent your demonspawn,” he jokes with a mirthful grin. “Seeing as we will have one of our own by next year.”

The cacophony of congratulations is incredibly loud and Ginny has thrown me into a choking hug, Draco getting hugged by both Theo and Harry this time. Poor Neville having to chase a determined toddler to join in too much.

Draco just looks at me and his smile melts my heart. “I love you,” he mouthed.

“Love you too,” I mouth back.

And that’s how it was forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, that's the end now. I really liked writing this version or Hermione and Draco and I feel like now the tarot card prophecy has been fulfilled, even if Hermione still doesn't believe in anything like that anymore.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


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